average age 35 y.o. No true center or rim protection. The end of the world. Let's just trade Dwight and rebuild.
Good God this thread has fallen apart. Someone will have to explain to me why everyone is panicking. Houston didn't get a star player that everyone knew they weren't likely to land, and they haven't yet improved at PG by signing a bunch of players they weren't likely to sign. Why should any of this be a surprise? The Rockets were always likely to improve at PG via trade or through a small signing via the MLE. And Aldridge was never a likely scenario. Instead, Morey has managed to keep a core intact that came three wins away from making the NBA Finals a season ago, and yet you'd have though they lost Harden and Howard somehow. Everyone just needs to chill. It's a long offseason, and there are still a ton of avenues left to improving the roster.
Duncan is old. Ginobili is old. West is old. Parker is broken. Leonard is very good. Aldridge is a third banana with top banana dreams. Patty Mills is good. The Rockets will look to defend their division crown next season because Harden is a cut above every player in the Southwest and Daryl will make a couple more moves to balance out the roster. After all these years of Morey improving this team, you'd think people would have a little patience.
Reality is setting in, only one team can win it each year and it's becoming less and less likely that the Rockets will be that one team anytime soon. It's not even that they're a bad team, they're a really really good team, but the teams at the top are so incredibly good I can't imagine them losing to anyone but themselves.
What is it with you people and your logic and reason and sensible strategies?!?! There's no place for that stuff here.......here is where the sky falls and where we complain and panic about things we know nothing about. am i doing it right? more loud noises maybe??
It's not only that the Rockets haven't improved, that would be okay on its own, it's that the other contenders are getting better.
Rox just need a Lowry/Lawson type pickup and a little more luck in the health department in order to compete with those teams at the top. This is a conference championship team without two of its starters. The sky has far from fallen.
teams that got better are ones with cap space right? our avenue for improvement is through trades which we have from now until the start of the season to do. Do you recall getting Harden just before the season opener? We have a bunch of tradable assets and enough targets to choose from. There's no need to rush.....wait for the right deal to come along.
The Rockets did have some injuries of their own, but a lot of things had to go right for them to even make it that far (the Spurs losing that last game of the season, the Mavs' roster being a complete disaster, the Spurs getting knocked out early, the best player in the NBA being hurt, & the Clippers having one of the most epic melt-downs of all time). I just think the league will be a different beast next year, and things won't go their way like that again.
